If I were a rich man

If I were a rich man...I'd buy Macquarie Field House! This brilliant old house and property recently went on the market and is expected to fetch a price of $10-12 million dollars. Still a while to wait for the inheritance, so better make sure I get myself a ticket for the next lotto draw! 

There is so much history in this 65-acre property. Macquarie Field House was built in 1840 and has an interesting history. It was built by Samuel Terry for Sydney's first mayor John Hosking and is acknowledged as one of the finest examples of early Australian domestic architecture. It is built in the regency style. In 1858, George Fairfowl Macarthur leased the property to St Marks Collegiate School for boys. In 1868 the school amalgamated with the Kings School at Parramatta with most of Macarthur's pupils moving to this prestigious school. It was later owned by J. Ashcroft and then the Ross brothers, then by a syndicate of Kershaw and Hipsley. In 1944 the Department of Agriculture acquired the property. The house had come to the attention of the National Trust after it became severely dilapidated- a melancholy ruin that seemed destined for demolition. David Jamieson purchased the property in 1963 and thankfully restored it to its former splendour.

The house around 1960 before restoration

The house was later classified by the National Trust and a Conservation Order was placed on it in the early 1980s. After David Jamieson, the house was owned by the Department of Public Works and then a number of private owners.

Built before Macquarie Field House and located to the west of the house was the building known as Meehan's Castle. Named by Governor Macquarie, it was built by James Meehan on his Macquarie Field grant. It was a large two storey brick building with a barn-like appearance that Meehan built before 1820. It was demolished and gone by the 1950s and sadly hardly any trace remains.

Another early brick building of eleven rooms also once existed on the property. This was probably the cottage for Meehan to live in. An eight-stall stable and out houses could also be found.

Although still privately owned, the house has not been lived in since it was last sold in 2015. Today the site is on the State Heritage Register, meaning any proposed development is subject to strict controls designed to maintain the strict heritage significance of not only the house itself, but also its "intact 19th century rural cultural landscape". Given this heritage protection, it is likely to appeal to private buyers rather than developers. Better start getting friendly with that rich great aunt.

Macquarie Field House in the 1980s

The property today surrounded by modern suburbia (Realestate.com.au)

Written by Andrew Allen

Cordeaux Street- A travel back in time

Cordeaux Street, like Railway Street, Browne Street and many other Campbelltown streets, has changed enormously since the early days of the town. The southern side of the street in particular has completely changed from what it looked like even 50-60 years ago. Not one building between Queen Street and Moore-Oxley Bypass from before 1970 remains on that side of the street. Fortunately, we have photographs, newspaper articles and personal memories that help keep the memory of what it once looked like. 

The street was named after William Cordeaux, a government commissioner and wealthy owner of Leppington Estate. He built Leppington House on this property. 

I thought I would recreate what Cordeaux Street between Queen Street and Moore-Oxley Bypass would have looked like from the period of 1920 to around 1970. On the southern side, beautiful houses once dominated the street. The exception to housing was the Club Hotel on the corner of Queen Street. The Venture store building completed and opened in 1974 started the move from residential to commercial occupation. However, the northern side of this part of Cordeaux Street has changed little over the years. Mawson Park, St Peter's Anglican Church and St Peter's Rectory have dominated the northern side for either most or all of Campbelltown's existence.

Let's travel back in time and explore Cordeaux Street. We will start with the Club Hotel on the south-east corner of Queen and Cordeaux Streets. A hotel was built on this site as early as 1830 by Thomas Hammond. He named it the King's Arms. From 1832 the licence was held by John Hurley. It was then called the Sportsman's Arms and rebuilt in 1893. In 1865 it was supposed to have displayed the body of bushranger Harry Mann's before it was buried in St John's Catholic Cemetery. The hotel was later called the Club Hotel, until its demolition in 1986.

Club Hotel in 1926.

Moving up the hill on the southern side of the street at number 3 was a house referred to as Byrne's House or 'Roselle'. There is a photograph of this house taken in 1871, but I am unable to identify who lived there then. From the 1920s to 1943 it was lived in by Mr and Mrs William Joseph Byrne. They called it 'Roselle'. Byrne was a retired farmer from Appin, and he had moved from Dumaresque Street. William died in 1942 and his wife the following year. I am unable to determine when this ancient house was demolished. The site later became the Nepean River County Council Office until the change to the Prospect County Council Office. This building was demolished in 2016 and is now a vacant block.

Byrne's House. Photo not dated.

Adjacent to Byrne's house was another building with an interesting history. This house at number 5 was once part of a private school run by Miss Clarke. The school was a very large room at the back and attached to the house. Miss Clarke ran the school and lived in the house. Her sister, Mrs Tallentire, owned the home and lived with them. The house and attached school were photographed in 1885. By the 1930s, William Loftus and his wife were living here. William was a sergeant of police. After the Loftus', the Langdon family moved in. The house became a guest house for bank workers and teachers and the Langdon's named it 'Rema'. Muriel and Everett Langdon were known in town for their kindness and generosity to those less fortunate. The front of the house was later used as a doctor's surgery before it was demolished around 1975-76.

"Rema" at number 5 Cordeaux Street. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

This view is of the back of number 5 (left) and number 7 (right). This is an interesting view as it shows Miss Clarke's school at the rear of number 5. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

At number 7 was the residence of the Marlow family. They were living there as early as the 1930s. A staunch conservative, Percy Marlow was a dedicated Mayor of Campbelltown, serving three terms for a total of 13 years. He was a prolific photographer and also excelled at carpentry. Percy and his wife Annie owned a general store at the corner of Queen and Lithgow Streets in the early part of the 1900s. In later years Percy loved visitors and would encourage people he knew to sit on the bench on the verandah of number 7 and chat about what was happening in the world. He died in 1971 aged 93 and he was still living at number 7 Cordeaux Street.

7 Cordeaux Street. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The Marlow family in the garden of their home at number 7. Percy Marlow is on the left. (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Number 9 Cordeaux Street was a building familiar to most Campbelltown residents. This was the residence and surgery of Dr William Mawson and his assistant Dr Karl Owen Jones. The building was known as 'Mulwaree' and was built by Mawson in 1913. William Mawson was the brother of Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. Dr Mawson possessed a great singing voice and had a lifelong love of music. The house and surgery were later used by that wonderful character Dr Ivor Thomas. Dr Thomas was remembered for his love of fast cars and fast driving, his stutter, and smoking whilst performing medical procedures, with the ash from his cigarette always threatening to fall somewhere on the patient's anatomy! Dr Parnell later practiced here in the 1970s.

"Mulwaree" at 9 Cordeaux. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The next house up the street belonged to Fred Walter Wilkinson. He was a plumber and had served his country in the First World War. His plumbing workshop was nearby in Queen Street. Built in the early 1930s, the house at number 11 had a dark sandstone frontage. Fred Wilkinson died in 1970.

Fred Wilkinson's house at number 11. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Number 13 was occupied during the 1920s and 30s by the Baldock family. Alfred Ernest Baldock was an auctioneer and stock and station agent and appears to have moved to Cordeaux Street around 1920. The house was named 'Kia-ora'. Alf Baldock died in 1936.

"Kia-ora" is on the right and "Hyman's Cottage" on the left. Photo is not dated. (Bagley Collection, Campbelltown and Airds Collection)

The Baldock's neighbours at number 15 were the Hyman family. Albert Augustine (Bert) Hyman was a clerk who worked in Sydney and whose wife Mary ran a shop in Queen Street. Bert was of slender build and an accomplished singer. The Hymans were in this house as early as 1928 and they continued living there after Bert's death in 1954.

"Hyman's Cottage" with Mrs Hyman (left) and Mrs Briedale (right). Photo is not dated. (W.Wilkinson Collection)

The last house on that side of the street before what was then Oxley Street was a house known as 'Roseangeles'. It was built in 1923 and owned and occupied by Andrew Lysaght and his family. Lysaght was Attorney-General in Jack Lang's NSW Government from 1927-1931. The huge weatherboard house was surrounded by a fine garden and a number of tall palm trees. Sadly, the house was demolished in 1970.

Roseangeles (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Another view of Roseangeles (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

As previously explained, the northern side of the street was very different. It was dominated by Mawson Park and St Peter's Church. The park has been an open space since Campbelltown was settled in 1820. The church was completed in 1823 and once stood adjacent to Howe Street that ran all the way to Cordeaux Street until the late 1960s. The first St Peter's Rectory was built in 1840 and it stood close to the church. It stood slightly to the south of the present rectory. In 1887, the old rectory was sold on the condition that it be demolished and removed. A new rectory was built soon after.

A view of Cordeaux Street from St Peter's tower in 1928 showing numbers 1-7 Cordeaux Street (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

McGill, Jeff et al 1995

Campbelltown's Streets and Suburbs

Allen, Andrew 2018

More than Bricks and Mortar: Remembering Campbelltown's Lost Buildings

McBarron, Ed

Campbelltown 1930-40. Patrick Street and Environs.

In Grist Mills Vol.4, No. 1, pp3-9

Keeping in time

While preparing our files for digitization we recently came across an interview from 1987 with Mr. John Cheeseman on the occasion of him and his sisters donating a beautiful ebony and silver baton of his father's to the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society.

Arthur & Louisa Cheeseman

The interview, conducted by an earlier Local History librarian, Joan Warton paints a fantastic picture of our area, of a tyrant school teacher and a kind baker. We'd like to share some of his recollections with you.

John's father, Arthur, had worked for the railways in Junee. In 1911 he was transferred to Campbelltown to maintain the automatic signals between the Picton and Liverpool lines.

Upon arrival, he and his wife, Louisa were presented with a little freshly painted cottage between Hannaford's Pub and the Coach house. John recalls his mother saying to the estate agent, "I'm not going in there!"

Taken aback the agent asked, "Why not?"

"There's bugs in there - I can smell them!" Louisa grabbed a stick, ran it along the window sill and held it up. Sure enough there WERE bugs. "They'd painted over them. That was our introduction to Campbelltown," 

"But," John said, "it all turned out for the best in the long run."

After living at Hannaford's pub for a while the family moved into a house in Stewart Street paying rent to Mrs. Munro. They had a huge vegetable patch next to the lane and a hedge of geraniums in which ducks would hide. John recalls every Sunday they would gather the ducks and take them through the gate for a swim in a hollow in (what is now) Innes Street. 

At Christmas, when the bake was done, Crowes Bakery allowed people from the town to put their Christmas roast into the large oven to cook.

One character he remembers well was Mrs. Seymour who lived behind St Elmo's and would get around in an old skirt, black apron, old felt hat and hardly ever with teeth in. But on Sunday's heading to confession she'd be dressed elegantly in Black Taffeta adorned with a beautiful bonnet with a single black Ostrich feather. She still had men's boots on but would also have her teeth in. 

At 5, John started school at Campbelltown Primary School where he had the notorious Miss McGuanne for a teacher. He remembers her, "She wore 4 different frocks that all swept the ground.  You never refused her bidding." 

She'd often get him to carry her shopping which made his mother wonder where he was. She also set aside a time in the school day for "conversation piece" where the children would have to say what had happened at home. "She'd find out all the gossip and scandal in the town." She also made her mark on John when he was fiddling with a pencil in the groove of the desk. Miss McGuanne brought a cane down upon his knuckles breaking a finger.

John's father, Arthur, leader of the Campbelltown band met for band practice every Thursday night at the Town Hall in Queen Street. Apparently, John's mother sent John along to make sure Arthur didn't come home via the hotel!

Arthur and his band played in many processions. One parade John remembers distinctly was the day of the Kangaroo march. In an effort to enlist army recruits for the first World War, a group marched from Wagga through many towns gaining men along the way. The band accompanied them from Kenny Hill playing them into Campbelltown where a further five recruits joined the recruitment drive.

Band Leader Arthur Cheeseman's baton. 

Photo courtesy of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

More Colourful Characters!

 I recently gave a talk to the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society on the second part of my Colourful Characters of Campbelltown presentation. I have chosen three characters for this post who you can read about below.

Characters. Campbelltown sure has had its fair share over the years. Enough for me to give a two- part presentation on them and I probably could have given at least one more. Every town has had them, but Campbelltown seemed to attract them more than most. They all live fondly in our hearts and memories and often bring a smile to our face when remembering them. Some made significant contributions to the town and some lead quieter lives.

Some had only bits that I can mention so I haven’t included them in the list. Like Arthur Luff of Allman Street that Eddie McBarron so wonderfully described in his valuable and entertaining Dumaresq Street book. Arthur, he described, walked with a limp and a stick, and characteristically sat on the verandah smoking incessantly his bent-stemmed pipe. The puffs were interspersed with mighty spits which carried from verandah to road. Another local told me about James Brooker who would drive his milk cart down steep Broughton Street to the Milk Depot near the railway line. He had no brakes so would attempt to slow it down by using the gutter at the side of the road. However, one day he was going too fast and rolled his cart over milk and all.

I have included 14 in my presentation today. Some I can talk a lot about…others not very much.

For some of those it is probably a stretch to call them characters- maybe they were more icons or in one case more of a curiosity- but their stories were worth telling so I have left them in there under the subject of characters. Frustratingly, I could not locate photographs of them all, so I have tried to include something associated with them. If anyone has photos of these characters or know who would have them, please let me know. Again, the characters will be presented alphabetically.

I have contemplated producing a short publication of some sort on todays and last year’s characters presentation. So, stay tuned for that.

Alf Cooper

Alf Cooper was born in 1916. He spent his boyhood years at Tamworth before coming to St Peters in 1926. The following year he came to work for George Chinnocks, who owned a store in the main street of Campbelltown- now one of the Georgian terraces. His mother said to him when he was 10 years old “How’d you like to go to Campbelltown? There’ll be horses and there is a shop, you’ll have lollies, you’ll have this, and you’ll have that”.

Alf sold newspapers for Chinnocks, rising very early in the morning to collect the newspapers for his billy cart from Campbelltown station at 3.30am. He then delivered them to the shop before delivering them on horseback to homes. This happened as Alf put it in “rain, hail or snow”.

When he was about 12 in 1929, Alf participated in a children’s party at the Town Hall. He stole the show dressed as Huckleberry Finn and sang a solo on stage that brought the house down. However, it was his attempt in the “boy who could laugh the heartiest” competition that he excelled. His “response excelled the greatest noise ever heard in Campbelltown, and so he won the prize” according to The Campbelltown News.

Alf Cooper used to do trackwork on the old racecourse at Leumeah in the 1930s. He would train racehorses that belonged to George Chinnocks. This course was known as Rudd’s Racecourse. Horses were Alf’s great passion.

I love the words that Alf used to describe people. He once said in an interview in his later years: “My old grandma- she was an old battleaxe. Old grandma would be in the kitchen and if they didn’t do something she would pick up anything and hit you. Another time he once said, “I was a bit of a wildie”. I love it when he described swimming as a child “When we came out of school we’d shout “Last to the Wattles is lousy. Across the public school we’d start undressing and by the time we ran down Sewer Lane we’d be naked (imagine kids doing that now). The Wattles was a bonzer spot, and I was a coot for diving.” Another time he said “Henderson the baker had two boys. One was named Glen. I used to knock around with Glen. We were good cobbers.”

Alf would ride bicycles, sometimes organising races. His mates were amazed that he only ever rode in bare feet- sometimes winning races this way.

Alf was a strong as an ox. He was employed to build the new Good Intent Hotel and a balcony was being built and concrete was needed for the upstairs balcony floor. Alf was used as the “horse”. He pulled the wheelbarrow filled with concrete up the plank while another bloke pushed. He demonstrated amazing strength.

Alf used to host casino nights in his barn on his farm.

Alf and his wife Eileen came to Leumeah in 1943. They remembered Leumeah when there were only dirt roads that turned to mud every time it rained.

I was lucky enough to meet Alf at Pembroke Lodge about 2 weeks before he died in 2010. Unfortunately, he was too sick to tell me much about his life but just meeting him was a wonderful experience.

Alf died in August 2010. He is missed by so many, especially the horses.

“Red Mick” Rixon

 

Frederick William Algernon was better known as Mick or Red Mick Rixon. He was born in 1897 at Campbelltown. He is pictured here with his wife Mary Selby at their wedding in 1920.

“Red Mick” was well known for his tracking abilities. He once tracked and located some lost girls in the Wedderburn area in 1926. They became lost while picking wildflowers.

He was quite a character. On one visit to the barber for a haircut Mick decided he didn’t want to wait. He untied the bag he was carrying and let out a snake. He quickly got rid of the queue!

At Wedderburn, Red Mick had quite a few acres, lots of dogs and native birds, including a lyre bird, and a very old bush timber style hut. Mick bred bloodhounds and harriers very successfully, he gained many prizes for his dogs at Bankstown and other shows, and he was very well known for the tracker dogs that he bred for the police. One of these champion dogs was named Heedless and the other Blutcher.

Mick won first prize in the Royal Easter Show around 1930 for top rooster. This prompted his brother John to ask Mick for a loan of the rooster for breeding purposes. After being asked by John, Mick’s reply was that it was too late as he had just eaten him!

Mick’s brother remembers one of his daughters being the subject of an article in the Truth newspaper in about 1958 entitled ‘This Miss Never Misses’. ‘Dutchie’ Rixon was charged with attempted murder in shooting some male. Apparently, Mick was interviewed and stated that it couldn’t have been attempted murder because if his daughter had meant the shot to kill then she would certainly have done so. Mick died at Liverpool in 1964 and is buried at St Peter’s Cemetery, Campbelltown.

 

Ernie Selems 

Cecil Ernest Selems, known as Ernie, was born in 1904, the son of Joseph Henry and Ellen Butchers. He married Lorna Smith in 1918. 

He enlisted in February 1916, serving as a WW1 soldier in France with the 45th Battalion. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in March 1917 and briefly was acting Corporal just prior to being seriously wounded in action in June 1917. He suffered a fractured skull and thigh injury and was hospitalised in England for several months. He returned to Australia at the end of 1917 and was discharged in Australia in February 1918

Ernie Selems had a hard life as a small dairy farmer on the Mount Annan ridge. The Selems family leased a dairy from Ted Sedgewick’s aunty on the edge of town on the Menangle Road. The farm was part of the remaining Church of England Glebe granted in 1823 and still owned by the church in the 1850s.

Ernie had to take his milk cans down a steep track then through the Claremont property to the Menangle Road (at the Glen Alpine roundabout). Twice a day he would take the milk into town at the Milk Depot and he would be at Lack’s Hotel at 10 in the morning. There are also references to it being parked most days opposite the Good Intent Hotel awaiting Ernie to drive it back home. After staggering out of the pub drunk, he would get back in the cart and the horse would lead him home. You would see the horse sauntering along. He is believed to have been the last local farmer to use a horse and cart to bring his milk to the Campbelltown Milk depot (to mid 1960s). It was a distinctive old white horse and cart. The milk depot building was burnt down in 1969.

In fact, Ernie never did the actual milking- this was done by his sister. All Ernie did was transport the milk in cans to the depot.

I couldn’t find a great lot else about Ernie, apart from that in 1954 he was charged and found guilty of failing to destroy rabbits on his property. I know he was also involved with the Campbelltown Show.

After Ernie died his house was cleaned out and a huge number of cheques were found- all not cashed! They went back many years.

Ernie died on 4 December 1987.

 

Written by Andrew Allen

 

 

Remembering a Policeman and a Brave Engineer

Tomorrow will mark the 100th anniversary of a sad event in our area's history. On 9 March 1924, an arrested man shot and killed two men in a car that was transporting him from Cordeaux Dam to Campbelltown Police Station. Both brave men's lives were cut tragically short, and the perpetrator was ultimately hanged that same year.

The incident that lead to the double murder was a break and enter at the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board at the settlement at Cordeaux Dam by William George Gordon Simpson. Work on the now heritage-listed Cordeaux Dam began in 1918 and was completed in 1926. Simpson had stolen two revolvers. After his arrest, Simpson was conveyed to Campbelltown by Constable James Flynn and dam engineer Guy Chalmers Clift. Clift's car was used for the operation, and he was the driver. As the car was one mile (1.6kms) from Appin, Simpson drew his revolver, and shots were fired. Constable Flynn was shot through the stomach. Following the fatal shot, Clift immediately pulled the car up and sprang at Simpson. After a struggle, Clift was then shot in the groin. Despite this, he was able to wrench Simpson's revolver from his grasp. He then punched Simpson in the jaw, got him out of the car, and drove towards Appin for help, despite heavy bleeding. A man named Gibson who was on his way to work at the dam, came across the scene just after the shooting. Clift told him to ride back to Appin as fast as he could and tell the police and that he would attempt to follow him in the car. Clift got there first and pulled up at the Appin Police Station where the brave hero struggled up on the police veranda on hands and knees to get help, where he was eventually found by a Constable Porter. On hearing Clift's account, the constable then set out to reach the prisoner Simpson. Flynn and Clift were soon transported to hospital, where the Constable died soon after. Simpson had boarded a car from the scene of the shooting and was later located at the Appin Hotel by Constable Porter. He found him in the backyard and then overpowered him with the help of another man. He was then arrested and taken to Campbelltown where he was charged with murder and other charges the following Monday. Clift was conveyed to Camden Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries the following morning. He was buried in Camden General Cemetery.

The opening of Cordeaux Dam in 1926 (Wollongong City Library)

Constable James Flynn was unmarried. He was known as 'Porky', aged 23 and had been a policeman for two and a half years. He was from Lithgow and his body was transported back there for burial. He joined a long list of policemen that have died in the line of duty in Australia.

Guy Chalmers Clift's hometown was Maitland in the Hunter Valley. Aged 37 at the time of his death, he was described as having some grey hairs that made him look older. In his boyhood while at Maitland Public, he was remembered for creating some amazing inventions. This creativity passed on to his adult years and he became proficient and later qualified in engineering. He obtained his degree from the University of Sydney. He used this qualification soon after when he became employed at Cordeaux Dam. He lived in a cottage at the site with his wife Muriel and his four children. Guy was described as quiet, retiring and competent. He would later have bravery added to these qualities.

Guy Clift's grave in Camden General Cemetery

William George Gordon Simpson was a motor mechanic and aged 37. When younger he was noted as a good footballer and first-class boxer. But it appears that there were deep underlying issues with William Simpson. He was reported as being kicked in the head by a horse as a child and thrown off a tram and fell on his head. These injuries were thought to have contributed to his personality. This claim was provided by his family to the Executive Council in an attempt to save his life.

It was claimed by Simpson's defence that he was drunk on the day of the murders. One witness described him as drunk from whiskey. It therefore appears as though alcohol was a contributing factor however, comments made by Simpson after the murders provide an insight into his mental state and probably therefore make a stronger argument for poor mental health as the cause of his actions. On hearing of Clift's death, Simpson said "This is terrible. I must have gone mad. I don't know what made me do it." He claimed that Clift and Flynn were his best friends and the last men in the world he would injure. He also stated that they were killed because they were preventing him from committing suicide. His father had committed suicide 16 years previously and he had tried twice. At his trial Simpson claimed that he took his revolver out to shoot himself.

William Simpson's 1924 Long Bay Gaol photograph

It was thought by a number of people that the real reason Simpson had acquired a revolver was to rob the Cordeaux Dam pay car. The car was supposed to have carried an enormous amount of money and would have been an easy target on the area's quiet roads. Simpson had previously driven the car. Cars were an unusual site around Appin and the dam. A 14-year-old Syd Percival wrote later in life that he remembered seeing Clift's car pass while picking pears at Cordeaux on his brother-in-law's farm. 

William Simpson's trial was on 6 June 1924 at the Criminal Court. He pleaded not guilty. Simpson was found guilty by the jury and Justice Ferguson passed a sentence of death. An appeal was lodged on the ground that the murdered man's dying depositions were wrongly admitted in evidence. The appeal was upheld, and a new trial ordered on September 2. The jury had to consider whether there had been deliberate murder. After only 45 minutes, the jury again found Simpson guilty. The media reported that Simpson had made an outburst of obscene language against the judges while he was being removed to the cells. He later made an appeal to the High Court that was refused. A letter written to the Minister for Justice by Simpson was never made public. 

On the morning of December 10, after he slept well through the night, William George Gordon Simpson ate a hearty breakfast and smoked a last cigarette. At 9am he was led to the scaffold. When asked if he has any last words, he did not reply. Death was instantaneous. 

I was initially intrigued over why Simpson was allowed to carry a revolver with him in the car. After further reading it was revealed that Constable Flynn did not regard him as dangerous but also that Flynn had searched Simpson, but the revolver was hidden in his sock and on the side of the boot.

A plaque dedicated to the memory of Guy Chalmers Clift on the Cordeaux Dam wall.

Update

I have received feedback from Deidre D'arcy about this story. Deidre wrote that her father Norman Percival heard the shots and that it all played out on Wilton Road, across the paddock from Northampton Dale (outside the entrance to what is now the turkey farm). She explained that Ellen D'arcy was driving her sulky into town from her family farm when Simpson tried to jump into the sulky. She "took off at the gallop towards the police station in Appin".

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Whitaker, Anne-Maree 2005

Appin: The Story of a Macquarie Town

Adelaide Chronicle 15 March 1924, The Sun 11 March 1924, The Herald (Melbourne) 27 November 1924, Evening News (Sydney) 11 March 1924

The Wesleyan Chapel

The Wesleyan Church c.1902

You might have driven or walked past this building and wondered about its history. The old Wesleyan Chapel has stood on the corner of Allman and Oxley (now Moore Oxley Bypass) Streets for over 177 years. Built in 1846, it has been known by three different names since its opening.

On 30 June 1843 the colonial government made a grant on the north-eastern corner of Oxley and Allman Streets. It was for a school, church and residence. A sandstone chapel was built, and it measured only 8.5 metres by 5.5 metres inside. About 40 people were present for the opening in October and the service was conducted by Rev W.B. Boyce. Remarkably, considering the small membership, the church was paid for only two years later.

The simple building was built of Ashlar stone and cost one hundred pounds. Its features include round headed windows and a gabled roof with barge boards. Early photos show a picket fence surrounding it. 

Around 1856 some members stopped attending the Wesleyan Chapel as they did not like the doctrine that was being preached. Some of the disaffected members joined the newly formed Congregational Church established by James Bocking and John Cobb. They built their church nearby in Allman Street in 1859. This disaffection resulted in the Wesleyan Chapel eventually being closed down for twenty years from 1865 and the result was a building left dilapidated and rundown. It re-opened in 1885 with a "Friday night tea meeting and concert" following a service. "Oranges and lollies were freely distributed during the intermission!

In 1900 the church building was extended by six metres at the rear and a front porch was added. Other improvements were made, and the The Campbelltown Herald wrote "The improvements consist of a commodious room so built for extension of the church accommodation at any time, while from outside appearance the old church has entirely disappeared, giving place to a modern appearance." Two years later the Methodist Union of Australia was formed and so the Wesleyans became Methodists. Around this time a fervid and zealous Methodist, Thomas Henry Reeve came to live in the town. The church revived under him, and membership gradually rose. 

In 1947 the parsonage was built, and the vestry enlarged in 1950. A new hall was built in 1961 to serve the needs of the Sunday School and the church was renovated with the installation of new pews.

With the union of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches in the 1970s, it was renamed again in 1977 as the Campbelltown Uniting Church.

A new church building was later opened in 1982 (the old 1846 building only seated 90 and was therefore grossly inadequate for special occasions) and was used as a multi-Purpose Centre. It was the talk of the town and proved to be a useful but also aesthetic building. In 1993, Hurley House was built in Allman Street to provide residential care for disabled young adults.

The church in 1979, not long before it became the Campbelltown Uniting Church

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown Clippings by Jeff McGill 1993

Campbelltown Ingleburn News 14 September 1971

The Campbelltown Methodist and Uniting Churches: A History by Wayne Williams 1996

Running the Cinema: the many challenges!

Many of our older readers would remember Macquarie Cinema on the corner of Browne and Queen Streets. There are many fond memories of the Macquarie that are regularly recalled, like in last week's library social media post. But what was it like to own the cinema? In 1979 Fred and Ida Eves were interviewed about their time as operators of the Macquarie Cinema. Interestingly, Fred and Ida were interviewed in August that year- only four months before the former cinema building was demolished, yet at the time of the interview both had no idea of the pending fate of the building.

Fred and Ida Eves bought the cinema from a Mr Holdsworth in 1930. The building was owned by Dr Mawson. Fred's father owned a theatre in Bathurst where Fred was living before he moved to Campbelltown.

Taken in 1932 at a Saturday night dance in the cinema

One of the early perils experienced by the Eves' were when the "talkies" arrived and with the sound that accompanied them. Fred Eves explained: "They used to have a record with the soundtrack on it. When you started the machine with the film in it would automatically start the record with it. As it spun around, and the film came on the screen it was synchronised with the record. The trouble with that was if anyone walked into the operating box and bumped the door the needle would jump across the record. It would throw it out of synchronisation and it became a comedy. When John Bowles was supposed to sing there wasn’t a sound and as he walked off he would sing. Then a lady would come out to sing and it would be a man’s voice. It would be all mixed up and you couldn’t do anything about it until that reel eventually ran out." You couldn't lift the needle to move it because there was nothing to tell you where to put it. Therefore, everything came out of sync and it was hilarious!  Instead of becoming a drama it became a comedy and everyone loved it!”

Another problem was when the records were cracked. The records came from the city on the train, and they would be packed like glass. If you bumped them, they would crack and then you would be in trouble.

The viewing of the Melbourne Cup was a big deal in those days, and everyone wanted to see it run that night. It would come up by plane. They would process the film, send it up to Sydney, send the cinema a copy and it might go to Nowra and Fred would drive down to get it. He would drive anywhere to give the people of Campbelltown the Melbourne Cup that night. Sometimes they would have a reel to reel switch with Camden and when the reel came off Fred would drive back and forth to Camden. Of course, the community didn’t know anything about that and what went on behind the scenes.

An undated photo of a Saturday afternoon matinee

 

Macquarie Cinema had no air conditioning and therefore was freezing in winter and stifling hot in summer. According to Fred: “We thought we had to do something, and we put some fans in. We put them right around the walls. There were about 8 of them but that didn’t seem to make much of a difference with the circulation. So, the audience decided to have some fun with them. They would throw lollies into them and when they hit them, they used to go off like a cracker. We used to try to stop them, but it was terribly hard. We used to call them hair raisers of the dark because they would do it in the dark. We always used to warn them and if we caught them playing up, we wouldn’t let them in anymore. We would walk up and down the aisles and if we caught them, we told them to go out and stay out. That was the worst punishment you could give them. When they would come up to buy their ticket, we would tell them that they were barred for three months. They would ask how they could come back again. We would tell them that when they came and apologised to Mr Nickless and say you are sorry, he will give you a sentence. That was the only way we could control them. If they didn’t cut it out, they could stay out because we weren’t interested. We could do that. If they didn’t stop it there would be nobody there at all, people wouldn’t come. People would complain why couldn’t we stop it. That was the only remedy we had. One time we had 20 on the blacklist, they could not get in. They used to try to sneak in and we would chase them up the hill.”

 

One point that the Eves’ made was the problem with soldiers during the Second World War. It was so bad that you had to pull the shutters down so they couldn’t get in. They would muck up because they were free from the restrictions they were experiencing in the camp. During the war years there was a soldier who was about 6 foot 6 inches, and he was up in the middle of the circle, and he was screaming out at the top of his voice. He was disrupting the whole house. The usherettes came down and said they couldn’t get him out. He was screaming all the time. Nobody could listen to the picture because of him. Fred went up and he said what do you want. He didn’t answer him. He couldn’t think how he was going to get him out. Fred went past him and said if you don’t shut up, I will take you outside and belt you. He said you will? and Fred said yes come down the stairs. With that he ran down the stairs and he chased him. He couldn’t find Fred as he had gone back into the theatre. That was the only way Fred could get him out. He wasn’t a local- he came from the camp. The next day Fred was in the office, and somebody said there is a chap that wanted to see him. He was the same soldier from the camp. He was asked to come in and he said if he could have seen Fred the other night, he would have knocked his head off. Fred said I know but how else was I going to get you out. The soldier said he was a brave man.

Religion also could be an issue. Often churches would ask not to show a particular picture. One such picture was called Wild Rice which Fred regarded as very mild. It was not uncommon to have to cut the offending part of the movie out.

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

Fred and Ida Eves Oral History Interview, August 1979